<p>come to columbia!
[YouTube</a> - Columbia University!](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZG7gThoGME]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZG7gThoGME)</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about the program? Is it a conservatory style program or more like a liberal arts program? What are the performance opportunities like at Columbia?</p>
<p>more liberal arts based, but yes opportunity for performances, and you specialize in a field of theater (directing, writing, etc.) but not as exclusively as you do at tisch.</p>
<p>if you want to be an actress and know it above all other things in life - tisch is made for that (its an acting/arts factory and probably no school is better at it in the country). if you want your ugrad experience to be broader, to have a lot more things going on, then columbia will give you both the artistic training, the intellectual training, and some pretty solid resources and relationships with the acting scene to help you out. so it becomes a question of what you prefer - some folks just want to spend the rest of their time acting, and thinking about acting, and that person might not want a columbia. but other folks are looking for something that helps them transcend beyond this one industry and will find the opportunity and breadth of cu attractive.</p>
<p>and some solid actors/actresses have come out of columbia - even those that a) never majored in acting, b) were not stars before they were admitted. so that life is still a possibility.</p>
<p>^Exactly. When I considered going to school for film, Tisch seemed perfect, but when I decided to go in a completely different direction and pursue my film interests on the side, NYU didn’t cut it. Columbia is a much better fit if you are looking for a more academic experience, but Tisch is much better if you want to focus on a career in theater.</p>
<p>DUH ! TISCH. how can u even think of the other 2 if you’re interested in theater. i mean the other programs are good but Tisch is just brilliant. You’ll easily be able to break into the theater industry from there. if you’re more interested in an academic experience with theater taking the backseat choose brown or columbia.</p>
<p>could I ask those that were accepted to both brown and columbia what the SAT scores were and gpa’s. My daughter realy wants either and she is a junior currently. Thx</p>
<p>^ go to the decisions thread. better still search for the schools on collegeboard.com they’ll give u sat and gpa averages.</p>
<p>Hey, Hannah. </p>
<p>As a Drama and Theatre Arts major at Columbia, just thought I’d chime in.
You’ve got a lot of great choices, and each has its own charms. I don’t have much to say about Brown’s program, as I don’t know a lot about it, and I know only a little more about Tisch’s program, but here’s what I can tell you about Columbia.</p>
<p>I have a friend crush on everyone in the department. The department here is very small, so you get to know your professors very well - and these are all people, who whether they’re scholars, designers, actors, directors, technicians, etc, are outstanding in their fields. And working in the professional arena. The head of the department edits the Wadsworth Anthology of Drama, and our Tech director works at Hudson scenic in the summers - but they spend their years teaching undergrads. And the class sizes are small enough (generally 20 max, but most of the time closer to 12-15, especially acting classes) that you get to know and build a rapport with these professionals. Having worked on a department show, I found this relationship invaluable - these people know so much, but they’re so down to earth and great to work with. I’ve learned so much, even in just my two years here. </p>
<p>I think the smallness of the program is a selling point - there’s no cutthroatness here, no worrying about promotionals. Everyone here is working together to celebrate and hone their craft. It’s really an educational program, less so than a training program. I’m a firm believer that smart actors are the best actors (and directors, and designers, or in my case, playwrights). </p>
<p>I also think the demands of the program are really important. There are 2 theatre history requirements, 1 world theatre requirement, 2 dramatic lit courses, 1 Shakespeare, 1 course in Drama, Theatre, and Theory, in addition to practical directing, design, and acting classes. And then for your senior thesis you will either act in, direct, design, or write a play. I like the layout of the program because it produces theatre people who are well versed in the whole world of theatre, who can think seriously about the craft, where it’s been and where it’s going. And, with the added benefit of the Columbia education - you’re engaging not only with the craft but also with the world. </p>
<p>You’ve got a lot of great options, but, in my humble opinion, Columbia’s the only way to go.</p>
<p>theater at brown is fantastic and has great connections to both broadway and hollywood (there is something called the “brown mafia” in hollywood composed of directors, producers and actors that all collaborate on major feature films). recent brown theater graduates include leelee sobieski (eyes wide shut), masi oka (heroes), john krasinski (the office), and lucy devito (danny devito’s daughter, upcoming leaves of grass star)-among the famous former grads are duncan sheik, laura linney and kate burton. and then of course there is a emma watson, who recently acted in a brown theater production.
here’s a list of some cool stuff alums have been up to recently
<a href=“Theatre Arts & Performance Studies | Brown University”>Theatre Arts & Performance Studies | Brown University;
<p>the department itself is fantastic with pulitzer prize winning faculty, connected to a tony-award winning theater company. in addition, there are six different undergrad theater groups that put on their own productions.
<a href=“Theatre Arts & Performance Studies | Brown University”>Theatre Arts & Performance Studies | Brown University;
<p>Columbia has the Varsity Show!</p>
<p>Now in its 116th year, the Varsity show has turned out so many working theatre professionals it’s insane. </p>
<p>Remember Rodgers and Hammerstein? VShow Alums. Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Hart all worked on the Varsity Show. </p>
<p>Jenny Slate, now featured on SNL, is a VShow alum, and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, who won the Tony for best score for Next to Normal, also collaborated on VShow. </p>
<p>It’s a student-written, directed, acted, produced, designed original musical that happens every spring, and it’s an incredible collaborative playground for undergrads to take part in. </p>
<p>Richard Rodgers actually came to Columbia because of it, and I know so many students do. This is my second year working on it, and I can’t be prouder of its tradition and its legacy.</p>
<p>In fact, Columbia performing arts is so awesome that even our medical school has a theater group :D</p>
<p>I like the way you think. Haha.
There are so many student groups on campus (and uptown at the Med Center) - ranging from CUP, which puts on straight plays, to KCST which does Shakespeare, to LateNite and Nomads which are student written, and also CMTS and the Varsity Show which do musicals. And the opportunities are boundless. We’ve done shows as small as Songs for A New World, with 4 people, or as large as KCST’s (King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe) which casts every auditioner for its spring show, which takes place outside all over campus. And not all of these students are theatre majors. In fact, the majority aren’t. You get people of all academic interests, from Engineers to English majors. People who are equally passionate about their majors and about creating Theatre. I sat on the lawns and talked for a good hour on Friday with one of the student producers of The Varsity Show about the future of technical theatre - he’s a civil engineer. I think that this, if I can use the word, diversity brings a lot of depth to the Columbia theatre experience. Yes, you’re surrounded by theatre people, but these are people who may or may not devote their whole lives to the craft. And who definitely aren’t devoting their whole undergraduate selves to it. The liberal arts education is great not only because it makes you a more well rounded person and expands your higher order thinking skills, but also because it gets you out of the rehearsal studio and into the real world, to meet “normal” people. One of my best friends is a Neuroscience and Behavior major, and it’s really nice to have someone to talk to whose life isn’t entirely theatre. </p>
<p>Sorry- Can’t say enough great things about Columbia.</p>
<p>Wow, Congratulations, You’re so lucky ! It’s such a dilemna.
The both schools are the best for me. nevertheless, I’ll choose Columbia. It’s in NYC, as others say, there is much opportunity, and even if some people can be very competitive there, the campus is awesome.
How did you get in ? Do you think that I can get in ? This is my profile : <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/909747-can-i-get-into-nyu-yale.html#post1064636916[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/909747-can-i-get-into-nyu-yale.html#post1064636916</a>
Thank you, and again congratulations !</p>
<p>The fact that you are choosing between these boggles my mind…and makes me think maybe you are an Ivy whore.</p>
<p>What do you want? Columbia has a Core and Brown lets you take whatever you want…</p>
<p>conor,
Ivy whores apply to at least Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Brown and Columbia are actually quite close. Sure, the academic philosophies (take anything vs take anything as long as you take a few great Core classes) are faily different, but the student bodies are not that different. They’re both quite liberal and intellectual. The main difference is that Columbia has a larger graduate school and research presence and is in the city, while Brown is primarily undergraduate (and therefore slightly less prestigious and well-known) and in Providence. As a result, Columbians tend to be more involved with the world while Brownies are much more idealistic liberal arts Ivory Tower types. That said, I loved Brown and it was certainly my second choice.</p>
<p>You’re definitely right about the HYP whoring…for sure.</p>
<p>Yeah, I see what you’re saying.</p>
<p>I have a few questions:</p>
<p>Is the theatre dept. at Barnard?
How many theatre majors are there in total?
What is the ~ Barnard/ Columbia split for majors?
How many student productions per year?
How many dept. productions per year?</p>
<p>Many thanks!</p>
<p>it seems like this is a pretty black and white choice. </p>
<p>New York City vs. small New England town
Rich liberal arts curriculum vs. whatever you want for 4 years.
rich liberal elites vs. poor liberal hippies
??? vs. Emma Watson</p>
<p>It used to be James Franco vs. Emma Watson but I believe Franco is graduating.</p>
<p>@ conorske:
I don’t really see myself as an ivy whore. I only applied to two ivies. I also applied to a lot of other schools, but I really liked both Columbia and Brown.</p>
<p>I am honestly more of a poor hippie type than a liberal elite type. I think I am probably going to go to Brown at this point. I love NYC, but I have to make a choice based on the curriculum, and I love Brown’s curriculum, and I am not a fan of the core, not that I hate it. I am still unsure, but, at this point, I think it’s going to be Brown.</p>